Thursday, June 26, 2014

Every Wednesday began with us zipping on our protective suits, preparing for the journey that lay in wait. Endurance would be key; the strength of body not to waver, the psychological resolve not to look back. Effie had been warned often enough not to try to glimpse what followed. Even when she thought she heard its shambling step behind her, felt its breath against her spine. Each of us knew our place in line, the great curving crocodile that stretches from here to, well, for all we could guess, infinity. Extraneous belongings were packaged up, sent ahead, and every family set off in turn. Eventually, we knew, we would be reunited at our next rest stop, sometime around dusk on Tuesday. Exhaustion shimmered in the air as we anticipated Wednesday’s dawn, when we’d begin the journey all over again.

- - - Judy Darley is a British fiction writer and journalist, and blogs at SkyLightRain.com. Previously she has had short stories published by literary magazines and anthologies including Germ Magazine, Litro, Fiction 365, Riptide Journal, and The View From Here. Judy's debut short story collection Remember Me To The Bees is out now.